通过激活空间旋转实现精准行为控制,避免副作用。
Angular Steering: Behavior Control via Rotation in Activation Space
- 在固定二维空间中旋转激活值来调节模型行为。
- 可精细控制拒绝与情绪响应,保持语言能力不变。
- 适合需要安全可控的AI应用开发者使用。
在保持大语言模型通用能力的前提下,精准控制特定行为是实现安全可靠AI部署的核心挑战。现有方法如向量相加和方向消融受限于激活与特征方向构成的二维子空间,对参数敏感且可能引发无关特征的意外干扰。本文提出Angular Steering,一种基于几何旋转的行为调控新方法:在固定二维子空间内,通过朝向或背离目标行为方向的旋转实现连续、细粒度的行为控制。以拒绝行为与情绪调控为例,实验验证其有效性。进一步提出自适应版本(Adaptive Angular Steering),仅旋转与目标特征对齐的激活,提升稳定性与连贯性。该方法统一了现有加法与正交化技术,简化参数选择,并在多个模型家族与规模上展现出鲁棒的行为控制能力与优异的语言建模性能,显著优于以往方法。代码与资源见https://github.com/lone17/angular-steering/。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Controlling specific behaviors in large language models while preserving their general capabilities is a central challenge for safe and reliable artificial intelligence deployment. Current steering methods, such as vector addition and directional ablation, are constrained within a two-dimensional subspace defined by the activation and feature direction, making them sensitive to chosen parameters and potentially affecting unrelated features due to unintended interactions in activation space. We introduce Angular Steering, a novel and flexible method for behavior modulation that operates by rotating activations within a fixed two-dimensional subspace. By formulating steering as a geometric rotation toward or away from a target behavior direction, Angular Steering provides continuous, fine-grained control over behaviors such as refusal and compliance. We demonstrate this method using refusal steering emotion steering as use cases. Additionally, we propose Adaptive Angular Steering, a selective variant that rotates only activations aligned with the target feature, further enhancing stability and coherence. Angular Steering generalizes existing addition and orthogonalization techniques under a unified geometric rotation framework, simplifying parameter selection and maintaining model stability across a broader range of adjustments. Experiments across multiple model families and sizes show that Angular Steering achieves robust behavioral control while maintaining general language modeling performance, underscoring its flexibility, generalization, and robustness compared to prior approaches. Code and artifacts are available at https://github.com/lone17/angular-steering/.
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